Page 26 of Bound By Darkness

I still don’t understand how it’s possible I’m both angel and Succubus. Furthermore, I don’t understand the hatred that stems from the others. Well, maybe I understand Cambion’s increased dislike for me—as he’s a creature of light, it’s natural he should abhor creatures of the dark. But he’s also conveniently forgotten that I’m also still angel.

And Dragan? It pains me intensely when I think of the emptiness in Dragan’s eyes when he looks at me. There was a time when he was my only champion. The feelings between us when he was inside me, the way he looked at me—I half-wonder if he’d loved me?

Now, he can’t stand me. He’s not as obvious as Cambion, of course, but his disgust is there all the same. I can see it every time he looks at me when he thinks I don’t see him looking. His expression is different. It’s as though he sees me, but doesn’t seeme. As though I’m someone else in his eyes now.

I can’t count Baron as an ally anymore, either. I don’t know what happened when I touched the stone, but I was trying to help him. I could see he was falling deeper and deeper into whatever trance the stone had woven for him, and I wanted to free him from that dependence. Maybe it was stupid of me, but I thought if I touched the stone, I could use my own power to help free him.

And yet, as soon as I laid my fingers on the stone, it immediately cracked in half. Yes, Baron was freed but at what cost? Now I have no way of knowing who and what I really am, or where I came from or why I still have my wings—bothsets of them. The worst part of it all, though, is that I can see a change in Baron now too.

Whatever ally I’d thought I had in him, I don’t anymore.

The only ally I have left is Flumph and he isn’t much of one. I can protect him more than he can protect me. The more I weigh my miserable situation, the clearer it becomes that all four of them would be better off without me.

Cambion obviously wants me gone. I’m fairly sure Dragan feels as though I’ve backstabbed him, simply owing to what I am, and Baron will forever blame me for destroying his chance to learn more about the man he once was. And Flumph? He’d do much better in their protection than in mine.

The more I think about it, the easier it becomes to make a decision.

I will leave.

Once I’m given the opportunity, I’ll find my own way. Where I’ll go? I’m not sure. At least I’m on the Mortal Plane, so my strength won’t be attacked by the shadows. Or maybe the Succubus side me needs the shadows?

But, if such was the case, why did I feel as if I were dying when we were in the Shadow Realm? I’m not sure. I’m chalk full of questions that have no answers.

The only answer I do currently have is that I’m not wanted here. So why would I remain? Just to make all three of them despise me even more than they already do?

CHAPTER SEVEN

CAMBION

Mortal Plane

We begin our journey toward the Fae Realm in mixed moods.

The demoness trails behind me, her arms bound together in front of her.

The road is empty, not a sound to be heard or a person to be seen. On our way out, we pass the graveyard where Baron resurrected the dead. Several of the plots are still upturned, the soil forming small mounds beside their respective gravestones. The bodies aren’t far away; they can’t travel any real distance without the control of their animator.

Baron doesn’t seem to notice the abandoned plots; he’s still sulking from the destruction of the stone. I’ve seen and heard of similar reactions. For some, the lure of the stone becomes a poison. The solace of a past, even a bad past, can feel like a blanket to those who have long craved the comforting arms of history. I should have known Baron would be drawn to the stone more than most.

ATransmutation Stonethat cracks and breaks in half, however? That’s something I’ve never heard of. I can’t imagine how the Succubus witch could have accomplished it. Perhaps it was simply that the stone couldn’t handle being touched by two life sources at once?Transmutation Stones carry massive amounts of energy. Enough to transform and mutate physical objects, to recreate memories of a long-distant past, and to weave a web that keeps the seer prisoner. There’s no way a simple touch would be capable of breaking such an artifact. If anything, it would break the person who touched it, rather than the other way around. Yet, the witch remains completely unscathed.

The more I ponder the subject, the more I realize there wouldn’t be a benefit for the demoness in sabotaging the stone. Furthermore, if I believe her story about her own lost memory, it would make even less sense for her to sabotage herself by destroying the stone. Perhaps she was simply attempting to free Baron from the stone’s hold, as she said? For as powerful as we’ve witnessed her to be, I think her surprise at her abilities is genuine.

Perhaps.

Regardless, I won’t be the king who goes down in history as the one who lost a war due to a Succubus. Dragan can continue to wear that title.

The stone’s breaking isn’t the only way it surprised me. Once Baron was freed from the object’s hold, we were able to whittle out from him a few of the details he’d witnessed while under the stone’s thrall. And those details surprised me.

Historically, the stone reveals a narrow window into the life of the user. It may choose certain moments for their relevance or spiritual significance, but the material from which it draws comes from the users’ own mind. Baron was somehow able to travel outside his personal history, and I find this quite baffling.

He admitted to seeing a vision of the Succubus standing beside the Midnight Queen, a vision I now believe reflects the future. Baron also saw the realms as the currently stand—Variant’s increasingly frequent edicts confining people to their homes. Furthermore, it’s now official—Dragan and I are the most wanted men in the three realms.

Making it to Earlann without detection will be a bigger miracle than the stone cracking, or an angel-Succubus hybrid with two sets of wings.

Dragan’s voice interrupts my reverie. “So, if Revenant really did see the future, and that future is one with Eilish and Morrigan together, shouldn’t it follow that we can trust Eilish?”

I glare at the barbarian. “I haven’t seen the Midnight Queen in over a century, have you?”

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